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Xref: sserve comp.unix.misc:10637 comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit:5225 comp.unix.bsd:13163 comp.windows.x.i386unix:6004 biz.sco.general:9622 Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit,comp.unix.bsd,comp.windows.x.i386unix,biz.sco.general Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yeshua.marcam.com!news.kei.com!eff!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!dsinc!cdin-1!icdi10!fr From: fr@compu.com (Fred Rump from home) Subject: Re: SCO market share Organization: CompuData Inc. Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1993 21:14:10 GMT Message-ID: <1993Dec21.211410.8040@compu.com> References: <2efuku$4vj@rhombus.cs.jhu.edu> <9312142221.aa02201@fags.stonewall.demon.co.uk> <hastyCI38BF.1on@netcom.com> <9312170856.aa01663@fags.stonewall.demon.co.uk> <2f4spb$lcq@slab.mtholyoke.edu> Lines: 38 jbotz@mtholyoke.edu (Jurgen Botz) writes: >o Does your vendor reimburse you for business lost due to downtime? > You keep implying this by saying that the reason you prefer a > commercial OS is because you can't afford to be down for a few hours. > We're not all publishers, but there are many other business that have > even higher costs associated with down-time (banks and traders, for > example.) There are businesses around who've built their reputation upon this very fact of doing everything humanly possible to avoid downtime. I don't want to start bragging here but we feel we are better than IBM or name anyone you please when it comes to service and reliability. A small business has to be better and typically cheaper at the same time in order to stay in business. Growth brings its own problems as more and more people get into the pipeline and people are a problem. There have been many situations were a customer felt unhappy about something. Rightly or wrongly these situations had to be addresses or a customer is lost. These 'making right' situations may involve buying a different product for the customer and giving it to him. It may not be our fault but we sold it and certain expectations were not met. There is no one else to go back to. So you eat the loss. in other situations a piece of hardware may have created undue difficulty for whatever reason. Somehow we are responsible. We will fight the situation first with the vendor who we feel is at fault. If they value OUR relationship, they make the situation right. All of this is customer trust relationship cementing process. If a customer feels screwed once, you've lost his trust. If you make him happy beyong the call of duty, you have him for life. That is a fact of life that some people have not yet experienced, but it is the only way we've been able to grow out from the jungle of vendors and competitors who operate only for this months bottom line. Somehow it works. fred -- "Dreifach ist der Schritt der Zeit: Fred Rump fr@icdi10.compu.com Zo"gernd kommt die Zukunft hergezogen, 26 Warren St, Beverly, NJ 08010 Pfeilschnell ist das Jetzt entflogen, 609-386-6846 Ewig still steht die Vergangenheit." (Schiller)